Ashley, this is for you...

As I mentioned in a previous post, several people have asked us to update our blog more often. One of these "people who actually have a life and interesting things to say on their blog" is my friend Ashley. We met her and her husband Graham in our Young Couples class and got to know them well through Connection Group.
They are expecting a baby in April, and I went to her baby shower last week (thus, receiving one of the "you haven't posted anything since Christmas!" comments).
Here is a picture of Kristal, Sherry, Ashley, and me enjoying the festivities. (I promise I was being included in the picture, even though it looks as if I just decided to join at the last minute without the rest knowing.)

I have been making blankets the last few years to take as gifts to the baby showers I attend. When you go to as many as I do (being in a Young Couples Sunday School class helps with that), you have to find something that won't break the bank. I started out making some that were just one piece of fleece with a binding around it. Lately, I have been making the "tie" fleece blankets that are just two pieces of fleece cut out to the same size and tied together around the edges. I think they make good floor blankets for the babies to play on when they get a little older.

For Ashley, since they are waiting for the surprise of a boy or girl, I made one that was solid green and solid cream. It looked really nice, but I forgot to take a picture of it. I went to another baby shower two days later for two other girls (I told you I went to a lot of baby showers!), and here are some pictures of those two blankets. One friend is having a boy, and one is having a girl.

Ashley, I hope you have enjoyed the posts from the last few days. (And Happy Birthday on the 10th!) I promise not to go another 3 months without posting again. Let us know when that little one gets here!!!

February Conference 2008

The second week in February, we attended the Biblical Counseling Training Conference at our church. Sara has helped out with meals and snacks at this event for the past few years, and we have hosted conference guests, also. Every time we host people attending the conference, they tell us how much they enjoy it and how much they learn. So, this year we decided to attend ourselves.

The sessions were every day from 8:00AM-7:00PM. That makes for a long day, but it was worth it. We learned LOTS of information. Some of it we had already learned on Sunday mornings in church and ABF (Adult Bible Fellowships or Sunday School). However, it was good to get a refresher on it. We also learned lots of other information that was very useful. There were lessons on secular psychology, marriage, psychological drugs, communication, relationships, and how to apply scripture to any situation that arises.

The goal of the conference was to prepare the attendees to counsel others. However, Sara and I learned a lot about ourselves, how we are to behave, and how we can help people we come into contact with everyday. The common theme throughout the week was that "the best counselors are also good counselees". So, we enjoyed the week and are already putting it into practice.

What's New?

We have gotten several comments lately from folks saying that we have not been updating our blog enough. From our end of things, I guess we just don't think we have too much going on that other people would find exciting. But, we also came to the realization that we don't have to only post on our blog about the big things. Even the everyday things can be exciting and fun to share.

So, I promise to post to our blog more often.

First, here are some pictures from New Year's Eve...James & Kristal came over for the night and stayed through New Year's Day. We played games and watched movies and football. (Of course...the two things that Wesley and Sara like to do the best! Luckily, J&K like to do these things, too!) It also snowed that night on the way home from the movie theater, and the flakes were the biggest I have ever seen! The "saying" for the night was, "Big Flake...Little Snow." That was true for that night, but not for the rest of the winter!

Wesley was soooo excited to be wearing his party hat!